


Navigating Forward

by Jerevinan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Final Fantasy XV Spoilers, Kingsglaive Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 07:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10566750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerevinan/pseuds/Jerevinan
Summary: Gladio didn't need to ask about Clarus because he didn't know; he needed to ask so he could move forward.Alternatively: what I wish Gladio's DLC had included.





	

The end of a skewer stick poked at Gladiolus’ arm, forcing him to turn toward Cor. After several days of nothing but noodles, a little meat was a welcome treat before he headed back to Caem to join the others later that day.

They had spent most of their time in the trial skirting around a subject Gladio had meant to bring up, and now he only had a couple of hours left to discuss it. Nothing could assuage his fear of confirming what he already knew.

“About my dad…” Gladio couldn’t take a bite of his dinner, no matter how enticing it smelled. He set it on the plate and stared into the campfire. “I know he died during the attack on the Citadel. If the king died, then so did Dad.”

“He died protecting King Regis,” said Cor. “He was prepared to do it.”

Gladio nodded and swiped at a tear with the back of his hand. Memories flooded in, like the time Clarus took him and Iris “camping” in the backyard because his children were too small to take outside of the city. Or the day his father brought him to the hospital to see his mother and new baby sister. Some moments had been tender, others more serious. All of them were fond ones.

“Clarus was a good man.”

“I know.” Gladio had grown up admiring his father and his family. “I didn’t want to think about him dying while I wasn’t there, but as soon as we found out about the attack, I knew. Dad never would’ve left the king’s side. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, that it doesn’t piss me off what the Empire did to him. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to stop and talk about it until now.”

“He was proud of his lineage and knew someday he might die in battle,” said Cor. “Have you spoken with your sister?”

“Scared to bring it up. She has to know as well as I do, but she’s tougher than she looks.”

“Clarus always said you had a protective streak with her.”

“Yeah, but she can look out for herself. She’s got Amicitia blood, and we’re an enduring lot.”

“Do you think she could have beaten the trial of Gilgamesh?”

Gladio laughed. A mental image of Iris busting through with an arsenal of weapons and a grin on her face came into focus. He wasn’t sure she could have picked up columns and swung them with the same fervor, but what she lacked in physical strength, she made up for in dexterity. She would have been like a dancer on the battlefield. The two siblings had different methods of approach to combat. Gladio was intelligent, but he depended on the capability of his strength to provide support to the group’s tactical approaches. Iris didn’t have a giant build, but she had quick feet and similar determination. 

“Yeah. Might’ve even been a better shield to Noct than me.” He chuckled in an attempt to lighten the weight of what would be heavy words if not for being in jest. He was where he wanted to be. Even if he got frustrated sometimes. Even if it had been far away from the Crown City while his father died. But Noctis wasn’t just his duty, he was his friend. They had been through a lot of shit together over the years, and Gladio had a few scars to prove it.

Cor’s phone went off, which relieved Gladio because it meant neither of them had to address the painfully bad joke that Iris might’ve done better by Noctis than he had. 

When Cor finished talking, he turned to Gladio. “That was Cindy. There’s been some daemonic activity at the power plant in Lestallum. They need some hunters to clear it up. You’re a hunter now, aren’t you?”

“We’ve taken on some bounties, yeah.”

“Sounds like they could use your help, then. Someone named Holly is waiting by the plant. If you can clear it out, she’ll work on the mythril ore needed for the ship. Cindy already had a chat with her about it.”

“Right, the other guys were getting that.” Gladio had thought about his companions, but not so much where they were going and what they had been doing. “You said her name is Holly? I’ll head to Lestallum and talk to her. I think I’m up for pounding down a few daemons.”

“Do you need a ride?”

Gladio considered the distance. “Yeah, sure. We can talk about my dad in the car. I wanna know some of the shit all of you got up to back in the day. I know you have some tales, and it turns out that my dad ain’t gonna be the one to tell them to me now.”

“What do you want to know?” asked Cor, pulling out his car keys and giving the barest hint of a smile.

 

~*~

Cor didn’t recall the exploits of his companions nearly as well as Clarus had, but he said a few things Gladio hadn’t heard when growing up. And in truth, Gladio and Iris had always preferred their father to send them to sleep telling them of the battles he had won rather than the crazy antics of five _mostly_ young men during their travels through Lucis. 

Cor presented everything in a more matter-of-fact way, too, leaving Gladio to fill in the blanks with his imagination. It surprised him to find out that Regis purposely stuffed mushrooms found near the slough in their belongings which led to a fight with a catoblepas—all so they could sell the meat from it to cover travel expenses. He had never known the more playful side of his former king—at least, not like that.

“What was this fight about? The one between Regis and Cid?” asked Gladio, figuring Noctis would like to know as much as he did.

“I’ll let Cid tell you someday.”

Cid was likely to die before giving up that information, but Gladio shrugged. 

“You look a lot like your father,” said Cor, giving him a sideways glance before turning his eyes back to the road. 

“I do?” Gladio had trouble remembering his father’s appearance when he was small as opposed to how he had looked the last time they had seen each other. “Can’t see it much now. I guess I might’ve when he was younger. I can sort of remember when his gray hair was darker, but I guess I’m not seeing it.”

“Different haircuts and less visible scars, but you look like a younger version of him.”

Gladio studied his face in one of the car’s side mirrors. 

“He had short hair as far back as I can remember. He used to have it long, sort of like mine. I’ve seen some pictures.”

“You don’t style it the same.” 

Gladio shrugged, a bit surprised that Cor would ever take notice of something like how people wore their hair. He seemed the type who kept his short and simple so he didn’t have to think about it every morning.

“I know my dad could be serious when it came to his duties, but he could be a lot of fun when I was a kid. And he adored us.”

“He did,” agreed Cor as he pulled into a gas station at Lestallum. “Here we are.”

“Guess I’ll have to pry information out of you some other time,” said Gladio with a grunt. Both of them stepped out of the car, but Cor only did so to refill the tank. “Thanks for the ride and the other stuff, too.” Both of them exchanged brief waves before parting.

~*~

Holly was a formidable but friendly woman. Gladio overheard her commands firsthand. She made sure the workers scheduled for the evening shift were informed of the situation and put on standby. She had a couple of them retrieve spare thermal suits for the hunters if they could find them—Cindy had wrangled other hunters into helping, but other than a suit for Gladio, they only managed to find one other. 

As soon as Gladio spoke with her, Holly smiled and provided him with a clear idea of the situation. Safety was her first priority. Gladio instantly liked her. It wasn’t hard to respect anyone who knew how to do their job. Still, the whole mention of daemons put her on edge. Normal folks weren’t used to having to deal with monsters, especially not in any of their cities. Lestallum might’ve been less sheltered than Insomnia, but its power plant had given it some extra security that wasn’t afforded to other places. 

Something in Holly’s demeanor changed when the word “daemon” came up, but Gladio didn’t pursue it.

Iris had graced the women of Lestallum with many compliments. It didn’t take long for Gladio to understand why. The women who worked at the plant did their best to fill Gladio in on the layout, show him how to wear his suit, and give him some added details as to what to look out for inside the plant. They were nice to talk to. Under any other circumstances, in another lifetime even, he might have taken them out for drinks after the extraction. But if he didn’t get his ass back to Cape Caem…

It didn’t take long after going inside for the other hunter to show up, and he realized immediately that it was Noctis when the other spoke. The prince looked ridiculous in his suit. Too bad Prompto and his camera were outside, not taking pictures of this glorious moment. It took everything Gladio had not to fall over laughing.

Fuck if he wasn’t going to have some fun with this before the end of the night. Even if Noctis was onto him, too. 

“Wait a sec. You sound familiar.” 

Gladio grinned inside his suit but covered it with a gruff order. “Save the talk. We’ve got hunting to do.” He led the way inside. “Now, if we’re done with the introductions, follow me.”

This worked out for him. He could catch a ride back to Caem with the others when they were done with the hunt. 

Even inside the protection of his suit, the heat in the plant was extreme enough to make him sweat. Movement wasn’t nearly as restricted as he thought it would be, though, and he set to work when he had the daemons in his sight. Some of them were fast suckers, but what he lacked for in speed, Gladio made up for by covering the distance with the width in the swing of his sword. 

It was an overall satisfactory job. He enjoyed the looks of surprise on Ignis and Prompto’s faces when he took off the thermal gear. To his relief, Noctis didn’t pry too much into what he had been doing while he was gone. He expected that to last for as long as it took to get to the next hotel or camp site that evening. Then all three of them would corner him with questions. 

When he tried to return the suit to Holly, she pushed it back into his arms.

“Keep it,” said Holly. “We managed to find two more in the right sizes. Might be good to hang onto ‘em, in case we need you all to clear out more pests from the plant again.”

Once they parted ways, Noctis tossed his suit to Ignis. “I’m never going to wear that again.”

“She’s right, you might need it,” said Gladio.

“We’ll store it until then,” said Ignis.

“Right now, I’m hungry. Dawn’s breaking. Let’s grab something to eat.” Gladio hadn’t touched most of the skewer Cor fixed. When he had experimented with a bite as he followed Cor back to the car, it turned out that Cor wasn’t a man big on seasoning. Or cooking. The meat had been dry and tough and damn near flavorless. “I could go for some juicy skewers about now.” 

“Curry sounds good to me!” Prompto led the way to the marketplace, stopping only when Gladio asked if he had any pictures of the prince in his thermal suit. Thankfully, their group photographer had come through and provided several bits of future blackmail material.

~*~

It took them a few days to get back to Caem. After Holly had treated the ore for them, the four of them had taken on a few other hunts in the area and set up camp or stayed at the Leville in Lestallum a few nights. As Gladio suspected, they had asked him during the first night at camp about his scars and what he had done while away.

All of them agreed to spend a couple of nights in Cape Caem, too, to make sure they had enough materials and were fully prepared for whatever awaited them in Altissia, as well as giving Cid time to install the last few parts in the ship. Gladio left most of the counting of supplies to Ignis and his eager assistant, Prompto, while Noctis kept busy with planting vegetables at Iris’ request.

Gladio found his sister on the porch, leaning over the ledge as she watched Talcott chase after beetles in the grass.

“Iris?”

She straightened up and smiled. “Hey, Gladdy.”

“Let’s talk.”

The joy in her face vanished. She nodded firmly at him. “Sure. Dustin will keep an eye on Talcott.”

Gladio pointed to the top of the lighthouse. “How about we talk up there? Seems quiet, and I wouldn’t mind the view.”

The two rode the elevator in silence. It didn’t look so tall when seeing the lighthouse from the bottom, but when they stepped onto the deck, it gave them a breathtaking view of miles and miles of land and sea. He could barely make out Talcott chasing something through the grass while Monica fed the stray cat on the porch.

“This is impressive.” Gladio sat down, back to the light so he could face the ocean. Iris took the spot beside him.

He couldn’t bring it up at first. It was a perfect moment, sitting with his baby sister and watching the water. Maybe for a minute he could forget that they had both become parentless over the years, first losing their mother and then more recently their father. They had lost Jared, too. How many times had they relied on him as kids? Clarus had always been there for the two of them whenever possible, but realistically his job at the Citadel didn’t allow for him to drive them around to dance classes or fighting lessons. Jared had tailored all of Iris’ outfits for her performances and filled Clarus in on anything he missed while providing him with a list of dates he should clear his schedule for so he could be at events to cheer on his children. 

“I miss Dad.”

Iris sucked in a shaky breath beside him.

“I wasn’t there,” said Gladio. This time, he had no trouble letting the tears fall. “While Dad was fighting to protect our king, I was messing around with the guys at Galdin, teasing Noctis about his wedding. I had no idea what was happening in the city. No, we were fishing and chasing down some minerals for this guy, Dino, and not thinking at all about the treaty. Didn’t even think to grab a radio and check in.”

Iris didn’t answer at first, but he could hear her sniffing beside him.

“I knew something had to be up when we were evacuated ahead of time,” said Iris. “Why do you think we got out when we did? Dad…he knew something was going to happen.”

“Yeah, according to Cid and Cor, this was the king’s best strategy. No doubt Dad had known about it.”

“He wouldn’t want you to remember your time in Galdin as the day you failed to be there, fighting alongside him, Gladdy. He’d want you to think about the fish you ate with Noct and the others.”

“Huh, yeah. Maybe. Still doesn’t make me feel better. And I know it’s not like my being there would’ve changed anything. As if I’m stronger than Dad, right? If they took him down, then there’s nothing I could have done to stop it. I know that, but…”

“It doesn’t make it hurt less,” finished Iris, turning to him as she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hands. “I know. I don’t like it, either. We haven’t even stopped to mourn him.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. It feels like I haven’t had any time to think about Dad, and maybe I’ve been avoiding it on purpose. I get it—I’ve had Noct to focus on—but the pain has been building up. I grew up knowing that something could happen to Dad at any time if the war escalated. I knew we couldn’t rely on the wall forever, no matter how many kings held it up. But that doesn’t make losing him any easier for me, and not having time to stop and think about it is taking its toll.”

“So let’s grieve,” said Iris. “If you’d warned me we were going to do this, I could’ve brought candles.”

“Nah, that’s too much. Save the candles. Dad would call it a waste of good resources. Let’s just…tell our favorite stories about Dad. I’d like that.”

“And cry a lot,” said Iris.

“I’ve got a lot of tears built up from holding it in,” he warned her.

“Me too.” Iris took out a pack of tissues and handed them over. “Here you go.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to lean on you and use your jacket,” said Iris, flopping her head down on his shoulder. 

“Thanks a lot.”

“Now tell me some of your favorite memories of Dad.”

Gladio blew his nose and cleared his throat, taking his time to consider which of the several dozen stories he would start with.

**Author's Note:**

> Lighthouses can symbolize overcoming challenges, so how appropriate is it that Iris and Gladio hold their conversation at the top of one? That said, I was hoping the DLC would cover more about the Amicitia family, because Noctis wasn't the only one who lost his father that day. (This doesn't even cover Prompto's parents or Ignis' uncle...)
> 
> I actually had more that I wanted to write for this--maybe even do an alternative trial storyline that tested Gladio a little more--but this is how it ended up going. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
